ic> /^^ 




/g-73 




C^SARISM. 



;neeal Grant for a Third Term. 



BT 



OF THE "boston JOURNAL. 



' No car of triumph bore him through a city filled with grief, 
No groaning captives at the wheels proclaimed him Victor Chief: 
He broke the g\'ves of Slavery with strong and high disdain, 
And cast no sceptre from the links when he had crushed the chain. 
He saved his land, but did not lay his soldier trappings down, 
To change them for the regal vest, or don a kingly crown." 



Printed nt tlie Kiocrsibe Press, (STambribge, 

AND FOR SALE BY 

HURD AND HOUGHTON, 13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. 

1873. 



E'i 



Entered, accordinfj to Act of Conjjress, in the j'ear 1873, by 

Matthew Hale Smith, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



RIVERSIDE, CAII bridge: 

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 

H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



SPECIMEN SPEECHES OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" This war is a bigger tiling than you suppose. If any of you 
feel like enlisting I will help you." — First speech, 1861. 
-\ " We cut our way in, and we must cut our way out." 

" Don't fire till you see somebody." 

" Unconditional surrender." 

" I propose to move immediately on your works." 

" I shall fight it out on this line." 

" The President cannot break the laws." 

" I have never been able to walk on the side of the street I 
wanted to." 

"I am not after Richmond ; I am after Lee." 

" My ambition is to be Mayor of Galena, and lay a sidewalk to 
the depot." 

" I can no more proclaim myseK Caesar than I can compel the 
Atlantic Ocean to recede, and you know it." 

" It is said, Mr. President, that Senator don't believe 

the Bible." " Why should he ? he did not write it." 

" You were right and I was wrong." — Lincoln. 

" Mr. Grant is a very obstinate man." — Mrs. G-rant. 

" In a nation of talkers, the only silent man." — Emp. Nap. 
Sect. War. 

To an English snob who told the President that he thought an 
empire would be better than a republic, General Grant said: 
" You had better start at once for the other side of the ocean ; 
you cannot be happy here." 



CONTENTS. 



Sensational Cry 7 

Why should not Grant be Renominated ? . . . . 8 

Grant and the South 9 

Washington served but Two Terms 10 

Grant as a Ruler and Statesman 12 

Simplicity of Grant's Character ...... 14 

General Grant can't Talk 15 

Grant's Executive Force 17 

No Cesarism; no Third Term 19 

Personal Traits 23 

Grant's Time come 25 

Official Life 27 

Grant and his Relations 28 

General Grant and his Presents 29 

The Burden of Office 30 

Don't attend to his Work 32 

The President at Home 33 



CtESARISM. 



SEHSATIOXAL CRY. 

The cry of Csesarism has been sounded through the 
land. No Kmg, No Emperor, No Third Term, in glaring 
capitals, meet the eye in sensational journals. A large 
and victorious party, that carried through the war, and 
has blessed the country with a marvelous peace and pros- 
perity, are accused of a deep game to place in the chair 
of Washington, a permanent President. The quiet gentle- 
man in the White House, who smokes his cigar, and most 
emphatically minds his own business ; who spends his 
evenings with his family, and welcomes all comers with a 
genuine hospitality, is said to be deep in the plot. His 
aim is, it is said, to overturn the government that Wash- 
ington gave us ; to clothe himself with imperial power, 
and by changing the Constitution and the laws, by 
bayonets, or by ballots, or by some other force, to make 
himself Emperor. This attempt to alarm the country by 
the cry of Cossarism, may be a sensational joke ; it 
may be a note of serious alarm ; for the authors of this 
outcry "are all honorable men." But malevolent or se- 
rious, this outcry may have more in it than its authors in- 
tend. It has taught the people that they can elect Gen- 



8 C^SARISM. 

eral Grant for a third term, if they will. Neither the 
Constitution, the laws, nor the teaching of the Fathers, 
stand in the way of the third or the thirteenth term, if 
the people will. Furious and malignant attacks on Gen- 
eral Grant have not so far borne the fruit expected. 
During the late canvass, the vilest things were said about 
him. His military abilities, and even his integrity were 
called in question. His home, his family, his children 
were not spared. The result showed that the people 
understood General Grant quite as well as his maligners. 
Had the canvass lasted six weeks longer, the General 
would have been elected by a unanimous vote. This new 
assault has commenced early, and if pressed with com- 
mendable vigor, will probably end in the renomination of 
Grant. What was intended as a political pleasantry 
may be taken up by the people in all seriousness. 

WHY SHOULD NOT GRANT BE RENOMINATED ? 

His name has never been connected with any office 
yet, with his consent. The inquiry about the third term 
may not be very tasteful to the modest soldier. But 
as he himself puts it : " Presidents must not be thin- 
skinned." The people have a right to know what special 
danger would befall the Republic should the people re- 
nominate, and reelect General Grant. " I do not expect 
the whole community to approve of my administration," 
he said the other day. " Many did not like m}^ plan of 
conductinfj; the war. Strom:: efforts from time to time 
were made to induce me to change. When the war was 
over, the nation gave me its approval. I am satisfied 
that when my administration closes, a patriotic people 



C^SARISM. 9 

will sanction what I have done." Why should not Grant 
complete what he has so well begun ? 

GEANT AND THE SOUTH. 

There is certainly no constitutional or legal objection 
to a third term. There are many considerations that 
make such an event possible, probable, and desirable. 
Grant is still a 3^oung man, and should he close a third 
term he will not be older than Washing-ton was when he 
entered on his first term. He will be quite as well able to 
conduct the public affairs in the future, as he has been in 
the past. The South, which will have much to say in 
respect to the next Presidential election, have more con- 
fidence in General Grant, than in any other man north of 
Mason and Dixon's line. He is a soldier, straightfor- 
ward, outspoken, and reliable. When Johnson in his hot 
haste attempted to punish somebody, and seized upon the 
paroled rebel officers. Grant spoke in terms not to be mis- 
understood : " You can't touch these men while they 
keep their parole. The honor of the country is pledged, 
and that honor must be kept unsullied." Had the 
Civilians -at Washington dictated the terms of Lee's sur- 
render, they would not have been as generous and 
humane as those offered by the commanding general. 
The colored people of the South want Grant for a third 
term. The leading men of the late rebel States do not 
disguise their preference for the present Executive. A 
change could be no better, and might be for the worse. 
This preference will soon be made known. Testimonies 
on this point will come from unexpected quarters. 



10 CJESARISM. 

WASHINGTON SERVED BUT TWO TERMS. 

Washington did not wish the Presidency at all, under 
any circumstances. He announced his determination to 
retire at the expiration of his term. Age and infirmities 
were assigned as the reasons. It required all the in- 
fluence of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Randolph, to induce 
Washington to change his purpose. The reasons urged 
are matters of history. The government was not stable ; 
there was fear of a civil war ; men who charged Wash- 
ington with a design to overturn the government by 
military despotism, were themselves seeking their coun- 
try's overthrow. To save the country from anarchy, 
Washington withdrew his objection, and he was re- 
elected. 

But there were reasons why Washington should con- 
tinue in office, and his friends pressed it upon him. But 
he was an old man, worn out with labor ; and his life 
was embittered by the ingratitude and treachery of pro- 
fessed friends. Ten years before the burden of office 
weighed him down, in his solitary tent at Valley Forge, 
with a sick, disabled, starving, shoeless, and mutinous 
army, that a handful of British dragoons could have 
routed and captured, he cried for the repose of Mount 
Vernon. " My eyes have grown dim," he said, " in the 
service of my country." 

Yet the patriots of the nation pressed him for a third 
term. Discontent was general. Men commented on the 
waning popularity of the great chief He was accused 
as Grant has been, with an attempt to make his seat per- 
manent by despotism. More than once he visited Con- 



CJESARISM. 11 

gress to allay the bitterness of party feeling. Spurious 
letters were circulated, with his name signed to them, to 
produce discontent. There were dissensions in his cabinet, 
and alienation of friends. He was abused, maligned, and 
falsified. Pamphlets full of the vilest calumnies and false- 
hoods, were printed and circulated. Some of these he 
answered. An anonymous letter was so atrocious, that 
Washhigton published an elaborate reply. He was 
charged with imbecility as a warrior ; with inability as a 
ruler ; influenced by personal ambition and seeking im- 
perial power while pretending to serve his country. Tom 
Paine lent a helping hand in these calumnies. He 
charged Washington with being a coward. He said pos- 
terity would be divided whether he was a knave or a 
poltroon. The slanders of that period against Wash- 
ington would to-day make first-class campaign documents 
for anti-Grant men. Strike out the name of Washington 
and insert that of Grant, and those atrocious calumnies 
against the Father of his country would read like modern 
emanations from Ann Street or Printing-house Square. 
Maligned, calumniated, deserted by his friends, his best 
intentions misinterpreted, Washington loathed public life, 
and sighed for rest. Nevertheless the third term was 
pressed upon him ; pressed by men quite as patriotic as 
the modern alarmists who are shouting Caesarism over 
the third term. Washington was urged not to leave the 
helm of state, for his own firm hand it was thought could 
alone keep the ship steady. To preserve the nation 
from the dark chasm of anarchy that seemed to lie just 
" before it, the men who had pledged their "fortunes, 
their lives, and their sacred honor," urged Washington 



12 CJESARISM. 

to still remain President. Had he been young, as Grant 
is, no one doubts but that he would have accepted the 
Presidency for a third term. He could have ruled for 
life, had he chosen to have done so, nor would the 
nation have feared Coesarism at his hands. The elec- 
tion of a President once in four years was intended to 
give the people a chance to reelect or reject. The re- 
jection could be after the first term. The reelection as 
often as the people chose. 

GRANT AS A EULER AND STATESMAN. 

By common consent, General Grant to-da}^ is one of 
the ablest rulers in the world. He is one of the few men 
that occasionally come to the surface, in spite of all adverse 
surroundings. The opinion of politicians and demagogues 
is one thing ; that of the world is another. By common 
consent Grant stands among the great military captains 
of the earth. He won his way by his own sword. He 
built on no man's foundation. He entered into no man's 
labor. The hour that connected his name with our 
armies was the blackest. Public confidence had well- 
nigh died out. No plan succeeded. Defeat and disaster 
attended our arms everyAvhere. Grant had no patron; 
no great friend ; no one politically to lend hnn a helping 
hand ; no eminent relations to speak a good word for hnn. 
His manner did not win confidence, nor promise success. 
There was no one near him when he started to recognize 
in the silent youth the coming man. Snubbed by offi- 
cials, grinned at by porters, sent to a common clerkship to 
get him out of the way, — he began his career. He took 
whatever was offered to him. He began on the lowest 



CJESARISM. 13 

round of the ladder, and won his ascent by dogged obsti- 
nacy. Thousands would have left the army and cursed 
the ingratitude of Republics. But Grant knew that he 
had ability ; knew that the time would come when that 
ability would be needed and acknowledged. He fought 
more battles, commanded more men, took more spoils, 
gained more victories, captured more prisoners in six 
years, than Napoleon did in twenty. 

Grant will live beside Washington. And when the ani- 
mosity of political life shall be forgotten, and the great 
services he has rendered to his country in the field and 
in the cabinet, shall be fully recognized, he will be an 
example to young men in all coming time. A young 
man without money, without a patron, with no opening, 
wholly unknown to fame, he has carved his name in im- 
perishable letters on the faQade of the Repubhc. His old 
commander at West Point when Grant was a cadet, 
waited for his orders. The greatest generals of modern 
times were proud to have fought under him. He wrote 
dispatches on his saddle-cloth, that all Europe waited in 
breathless silence to read, — dispatches that rank with the 
ablest that Monk or Wellington ever penned ; granting 
to a fallen foe terms of surrender so honorable and so 
humane that the world wondered ; making for himself 
a name as well known to European courts as that of 
Frederick the Great, or Moltke. Yet when receivino: the 
thanks of Congress, or in the White House receiving the 
commissions which none but Washington had ever re- 
ceived, Grant was everywhere as modest, as unassum- 
ing, as retiring, as silent, as when in 1861 he kicked 
his heels against the door-post of the capitol at Spring- 



14 CJ^SARISM. 

field, soliciting a place in the army from men who to-day 
would gladly shine his boots. 

McClellan had been relieved as the head of the army. 
Everything was at sea, and the public hope was dim. 
General Scott said to me at Delmonico's : '' I don't under- 
stand this w\ar. I never knew a war of this magnitude 
that did not throw to the surface some great general. 
We have had splendid fighting, but no damage has been 
done. Both armies have drawn off in good order at the 
close of a conflict ready to begin the next day. Such 
fighting must be interminable. Somebody must be de- 
stroyed. The enemy must be spoiled ; his means of war- 
fare taken from him. I must make an exception in favor 
of that young man out West. He seems to know the art of 
damaging the enemy and crippling him. So far General 
Grant is the hero of this war." The opinion of the sa- 
gacious warrior at the opening of General Grant's career, 
was confirmed by his successes at the close. 

SIMPLICITY OF grant's CHARACTER. 

The President puts on no airs, and never has made any 
" claims " on the Republic. On the breaking out of the 
war, he closed his ledger at Galena, and made prepara- 
tions to take any position assigned him in the defense of 
the government. No post was too humble, no place too 
obscure for hhn to occupy. He asked for work, not 
power. He did not ask for a generalship; it was ac- 
corded to him at the request of the entire Illinois delega- 
tion. He did not seek the position of lieutenant-general. 
AVhen summoned to Washington, he went not knowing 
what should befall him. The commission, which none but 



C^SARISM. 15 

Washington had ever borne, was privately presented 
in one of the saloons of the White House. Great prep- 
arations had been made to celebrate his accession to the 
rank of lieutenant-general. But he left the city before 
dark to enter on the new and grave duties to which he had 
been called. He was spared assassination the night of the 
Lincoln murder. He had been invited to the theatre, and 
was one of the victims marked for the slaughter. He left 
on a tour of duty, and was far away when the fatal bullet 
struck the patriot Lincoln down. 

When the men who sustained the government in all 
the crisis, determined to run General Grant for the Presi- 
dency, he was waited on by a committee of eminent per- 
sons. General Grant at once declined the proposal. He 
neither wanted the honor nor the grave responsibilities 
of the high position. He said he understood his duties as 
general of the armies. He could perform them, he 
thought, in a manner satisfactory to the nation. His 
position was a life one; the duties were pleasant; the 
compensation ample ; and he asked to be let alone. He 
did not seek the second term, nor does he seek the third. 
But if the people want Grant, they will call him, not to 
destroy, but to preserve ; not to reinstate the national out- 
break, but to repair the waste of vandalism and put the 
complicated, but damaged machinery of the government 
in complete and harmonious order. 

GENERAL GRANT CAn't TALK. 

So his maligners say. Neither could Washington talk. 
He attempted to make a speech before the House of 
Burgess when Virginia thanked him for his great ser- 



IG C^SARISM. 

vices. Washington was so overwhelmed and confused 
in attempting to reply to a vote of thanks that Speaker 
Randolph came to his rescue. " Sit down, Mr. Wash- 
ino-ton ; sit down ; your modesty is only exceeded by 
your valor." Talking Presidents and babbling candi- 
dates have not as a general rule been a success. Jef- 
ferson was no talker. It embarrassed him so to ap- 
pear before an assembly thot he introduced the custom 
of sending his message to Congress rather than appear 
before that body and read it, as was the custom. Old 
Hickory could not talk unless he got mad, and then he 
needed expletives to help him out. The fact is that 
General Grant is one of the most inteUigent talkists 
of the age. He is one of the best informed men of the 
day. He reads daily seven newspapers, and has the 
digest of thirty daily prints laid before him. He knows 
every criticism on his administration; every epithet 
hurled against him; every good thing said in his be- 
half. The Confederate generals, who had anything to 
do with him, from Pemberton to Lee, did not complain 
that Grant could not talk. They well knew that he could 
talk, write, and make his mark. 

Jefferson says in his memoirs : " I served with General 
Washington in the Legislature of Virginia before the 
Revolution, and during it with Dr. Frankhn in Congress, 
and I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a 
time, nor to any but the main point that was to decide 
the question." What a solid flict for some of the windy 
talkers in Congress and out of it to-day. 

Farragut told me that he became acquainted with 
Grant in this way : while trying to force his way up 



CjESARISM. 17 

the Mississippi, he was ignorant of the commander who 
was operating with the troops above him. The British 
and French Consuls asked permission to go through the 
lines, promising to give no information to the rebels. 
" You may tell them what you like," said the brave 
Admiral ; " tell them I am trying to force my way through 
and intend to do it." The officials came back big with 
information, but would tell nothing. "I don't care what 
you know," said Farragut ; " but I would hke to have 
you tell me who is in command of the armies." "Well," 
said the Briton, " he is a red-headed fellow, that they 
call Grant. He appears stupid as a block. You can get 

nothing out of him. He is either a fool, or an able 

general." " Tell me what he is doing," said Farragut. 
An answer was given. " All right," was the response, 
" I will trust him. 

grant's executive force. 

He is one of the few men born to command. Cool, saga- 
cious, clear-headed ; his few words and those right to the 
point brought him to the front everywhere. From the 
moment he first appeared in the war, his views differed 
from those of all other generals. Hallock reproved him, 
and telegram after telegram followed him from the War 
Department, censuring him for his mode of doing things. 
Committees, generals, and secretaries opposed his plans. 
But self-reliant and defiant, he pursued his own course. 
During the whole campaign, he called but one council 
of war. In that council every officer but one opposed 
his plan. He carried out his own views, and won. His 
famous expression, " I shall fight it out on this line,'* 



18 C^SARISM. 

was drawn out in consequence of an attempt in high 
quarters to make him change his plans. He was interfered 
with on every side. More than once, he came up from 
his camp to protest against the perpetual annoyance. 
Once he said to Mr. Lincoln, " If the opinion of these 
civil and military gentlemen is of so much importance, 
why did you not follow their advice before you called 
me : 

That Grant has marked executive ability is proved by 
the fact that he is an able general. The elements that 
make a great general, make a great ruler. An army is 
a state, and a man who can rule that well can rule a 
nation well. The history of miUtary men in all ages 
prove this. The great captains of the Old World have 
been the mightiest rulers. The most popular Presidents 
from "Washington to Grant, have been military Presi- 
dents. A thousand men can lead a column, make a bril- 
liant dash, fight a battle, and win a victory. Not ten 
men out of that thousand can plan a campaign, move 
half a million of men, cover an area of a thousand 
miles, and make no mistake in a single movement. We 
had brilliant men, brave men, patriotic men, earnest 
men, but all were failures till Grant appeared, for none 
of them could plan a campaign. As Grant conducted his 
army so he runs his administration. Whether people like 
it or not, in the Cabinet as in the field. Grant carries out 
his own plans. He is the head of the nation, as Wash- 
ington was. Everywhere he takes the initiatory steps, 
and assumes the responsibility. When he presents a 
matter to the Cabinet, he presents with it his own 
views, saying, " Gentlemen, T propose to do so and so." 



CJSSAEISM. 19 

On the Black Friday, when unscrnpulous men came near 
ruining the whole country, General Grant walked quietly 
into the Treasury Building, and gave a simple order, and 
moved on the conspirators, as his custom is. His courage 
and patriotism were tried during the short period he held 
the portfolio of the War Department. While lieutenant- 
general, a United States Senator rode with General Grant 
to New York. The Senator found the General of the 
army as familiar with finance as if he had made it the 
study of his life. He sketched apian, by which the great 
debt of our country could be managed, gradually reduced, 
and the business of the comitry not be harmed. That 
plan, hastily developed on the iron pathway, has been 
persistently adhered to, as the General would adhere to 
the plan of his campaign. 

NO c^sakism; no thied term. 

So demagogues say. But these alarmists did not want 
Grant for the first term, nor for the second. Of course they 
do not desire him for a third. Indeed, General Grant is 
one of those men that nobody seems to want, and yet a 
man whom the people cannot do without. On the 13th 
of April, 1861, the booming of the guns on Sumter, were 
heard at Galena. A j^oung man in a tan-yard who had 
been educated at West Point, closed his ledger and 
thought he might be of some service to his country in 
the dark and terrible day that was upon her. On the 
19th of April, Captain Grant gathered a few volunteers 
in a room and commenced drilling them. Without wait- 
ing to be sent for, he took his satchel in his hand — 
which, as tradition represents, contained a tooth-brush 



20 CJLSARISM. 

and a small comb, — and started for Springfield. There 
nobody wanted liim, and he hung romid the capitol until 
he was ashamed. Hearing that his old comrade at West 
Point was in command in Ohio, Grant started for Cin- 
cinnati in the hope that McCIellan would put him on his 
staff. But McCIellan did not want him. From Spring- 
field Grant wrote to the War Department, offering his 
services. The letter not only elicited no reply, but it 
was not thought of importance enough to keep. At 
length Grant was allowed to organize volunteers for the 
war. He did this work so well that it was thought safe 
to trust him with a mutinous regiment that no com- 
mander could manage. On the 7th of August he re- 
ceived his commission as brigadier-general, and went 
to the war. Nobody wanted him out West. He was 
in everybody's way. He was so obstinate that nobody 
could move him ; and his persistent and energetic talks 
about seizing forts, damaging the enemy, crippling 
them, moving on the enemy's works, with unconditional 
surrender, had a popular ring that politicians did not like. 
It was decided to remove him. The Adjutant-general 
was sent out West for that purpose. Grant could not be 
found. Thomas, with the eye of a soldier, saw that Grant 
was doing an immense work. Before Grant could be re- 
lieved, Vicksburg surrendered. From that hour to this, 
no one has been able to handle Grant ; no combination 
can move him, men cannot frighten him. For every emer- 
■ trency he has a reserve at hand. Once at the West, 
his officers rushed into his tent and said : " General, we 
are surrounded ! " Quietly knocking the ashes from his 
cigar, Grant replied : " Well, gentlemen, we have cut our 



CjEsarism. 21 

way in, and we must cut our way out." Wlien Vicks- 
burg surrendered, Lincoln called in some persons, who 
had accused Grant of drunkenness, and requested them 
to find out what particular brand of whiskey Grant 
drank ; '' for," said the President, " I will order some of 
that brand for the rest of the generals." If Grant's en- 
emies could have prevented it, he Avould not have been 
Lieutenant-general ; nor would he have been put in com- 
mand of the armies of the United States ; nor would he 
have been nominated by the Eepublicans for the first 
term. 

There is a nice little piece of history connected with 
the second nomination. A conspiracy was formed to 
defeat the reelection of General Washington, — formed 
by men who had been on his staff, and were numbered 
anion o- his most confidential friends. Lincoln was hurt 

o 

by the same ingratitude. Private circulars from the Sen- 
ate Chamber were sent all over the country to manufac- 
ture public sentiment against a second term. Lincoln 
was stung to the quick by this base ingratitude and 
treachery. Grant could expect no less. A United States 
Senator, at the head of one of the important committees, 
regarded himself as the head of the government. He 
was insolent, arrogant, and domineering. It was difii- 
cult for the Executive Department to do business with 
the Senate through its official channels, and preserve its 
dignity. The committee was reorganized, and the arro- 
gant gentleman displaced. He attributed the indignity 
to General Grant, and resolved to make reprisals. The 
Republican Convention was soon to meet to nominate a 
candidate. Grant was not only not wanted, but " men 



22 C^SARISM. 

said, he must be put out of the way." A combmation was 
formed, embracmg some Democrats and the disaffected. 
A demonstration was agreed upon that would so alarm 
the Republicans, that they would not dare renominate the 
President. Sitting one day in the Senate Chamber, the 
Senator received some visitors. In a tone of voice, loud 
enough to be heard half a dozen chairs away, the Senator 
gave utterance to his opinions : " You can't renominate 
General Grant, gentlemen ; 3^ou can't renominate him ; it 
is impossible. Read that letter, gentlemen, and you will 
see. I am going to make a speech upon the matter 
myself, and the renomination will be simply impossible." 
The threatened speech came. A more oifensive produc- 
tion has not appeared since Tom Paine made his vile 
attack on the character and military abilities of Washing- 
ton. The slums, the garbage barrels, and gutters were 
raked for cast-oif calumnies. These were put in elegant 
settings, and presented to the American public, under the 
autograph of the Senator. The result was the enthusiastic 
renomination and the triumphant reelection of our ma- 
ligned ruler. The Senator intended murder, — he com- 
mitted suicide. Of course politicians do not want General 
Grant for the third term, nor did they want him for the 
first. 

"Why should a third term be thought so perilous ? 
Members of Cono-ress do not think it dano;erous to the 
Republic that their reelection should be repeated to the 
fortieth term. Senators do not object to a life seat in 
the Senate Chamber. It is quite as important that the 
United States Judges be pure and free from tyranny as it 
is that Presidents be loyal to the Constitution. Yet we 
elect them for life. 



C^SARISM. 23 

PERSONAL TRAITS. 

The self-reliance and individuality of Grant are among 
his marked characteristics. He has a plan in all that 
he does, and adheres to it with sullen obstinacy. When 
his plans for the campaign were completed, he pre- 
sented them to the President. They included Sherman's 
famous march to the sea. Grant was to remain in the 
Wilderness keeping Lee busy. "Do you understand 
the plan, Mr. President," said the commanding general ? 
" Perfectly. You are to stay here and hold the legs of the 
Rebellion, while Sherman comes through, to skin 'em." 
When his vigorous campaign began to open in the West, 
Sherman offered his sword, and told Grant that he would 
not raise the question of rank. Grant's orders to St. 
Louis were not obej^ed, and he went down to see what 
was the matter. Halleck reproved him. " Remove me 
at once, if I don't obey orders," was the response. 

His perfect knowledge of men, is another trait of 
Grant's character. He seldom makes a mistake. Meade 
was appointed -at his personal solicitation, and the praise 
that he bestowed upon that general and other associates 
in armies, was unstinted and manly. While he was in 
the Wilderness, an official of the War Department came 
down and spent some time in the camp. Grant took his 
measure at once, for he seemed to understand war bet- 
ter than the General. When this man apphed for an 
important commission under the government. Grant re- 
fused the appointment, and has been heartily hated by 
that gentleman ever since. 

Another trait is his reticence. All eminent men who 



24 CjEsarism. 

have been called to great trusts, have been small talkers. 
" No more fooUng," said Frederick in a drunken bout, 
when news was brought to him that his father was dead, 
and that he was Emperor. It is said that Moltke can 
hold his tongue in fifteen diJBferent languages. I was sit- 
ting in the elegant saloon of Mr. Burhngame in Paris. 
Napoleon's Minister of War came in. Grant had been 
elected but not inaugurated. The President, it will be 
recollected, kept his line of policy in his own hands. 
The Minister of War said, " I am astonished at your 
General Grant. . I marvel that he can so completely keep 
his own counsel. In a nation of talkers, he seems to be 
the only silent man." 

The enemies of General Grant, North and South, are 
not in harmony. They should have a counsel, and har- 
monize their attacks. In one section he is accused of 
being a bold, daring, unscrupulous ruler, cool, sagacious, 
and ready for imperialism. On the other hand, he is 
charged with possessing no talent, lucky in his battles, 
without an average intelligence, ruled by a clique, and 
a passive tool in the hands of politicians. A man can- 
not be both a despot and a fool. So far nothing has 
been able to stand against him. He has always enjoyed 
the unmeasured confidence of the people. All attempts 
to mix him up with frauds, land speculations, San Do- 
mingo jobs, or Credit Mobilier frauds, have signally failed, 
his enemies being judges. Alone and single-handed, 
he devised and carried out the Geneva Arbitration, and 
gave to England, as she avers, the hot end of the poker. 
The entire opposition, at the last canvass, could not 
furnish a man who had the slightest hope of success. 



C^SARISM. 25 

Wlien, finally, a republican was nominated, Pilate and 
Herod struck hands without profit. The colored people, 
whom it was supposed would follow Greeley and Sumner, 
the old abolitionists, who would not forget Joseph, were 
appealed to in vain. The same results would follow 
should the people put General Grant in nomination for a 
third term. Every month of his administration strength- 
ens him in the confidence of the nation. Whatever he 
does, he does well. A thousand exigencies have arisen 
for which there was no precedent ; he has led the people 
wisely and safely. Of all the letters that he has written, 
— his first private letter to his father, written amid the 
struggles of his first campaign ; his manly letter to Sher- 
man, written on the eve of his commission as Lieuten- 
ant-general ; his countless dispatches ; war papers and 
state documents, — all show him to be a man of marvelous 
ability. These productions are his own. In a conference 
of fifty men, while seeming to listen, his pen moves rap- 
idly, and when the conference closes, he has the matter 
written up, saying, " Gentlemen, I think this is about the 
thino'." 

o 

geant's time come. 

No President has been popular after the first term. 
Grant cannot expect to escape more than others. If 
Grant takes the mantle of Washington, and sits in the 
chair of Washington, he must share the calumny and in- 
dignity that Washington endured. From the moment 
that Washington took the command of the army until he 
retired from the Presidency, he was the subject of the 
foulest aspersions. He was accused of imperialism, des- 



26 CJSSARISM. 

potism, and tyranny ; the term for " Cassarism " was not 
then invented. These charges were prmted and circu- 
lated through the country. In a document bearing date 
March 12, 1783, Washington made a formal reply to 
these foul calumnies. When Congress met in Decem- 
ber, Washington sent a formal refutation in a paper 
dated December 23, 1783, and addressed to the Presi- 
dent of Congress. The direct offer of a crown to Wash- 
ington, in a room that still stands on Broad Street, was 
the result of a plan to ruin the President. 

Party rancor has never been more intense than dur- 
ing the administration of John Adams. The opposition 
carried him under, and he failed of a second nomination. 
The correspondence of Jefferson shows how bitter and 
intense the attacks were that were made on him, not 
sparing even his wife and children. Party bitterness was 
so violent in Madison's reign, that men were shot down 
in the streets for a difference of political opinion. Noth- 
ing but the war with Britain saved Madison for a sec- 
ond term. All the epithets and vile things said about 
Grant, would not compare with those hurled at the head 
of John Quincy Adams, and hurled by the men who did 
the most to make him President. He lost his reelec- 
tion through party bitterness. Jackson's foes were those 
of his own house. The men who elected him turned 
against him. The cartoons of the day represented the 
hero in an old rookery, sitting in a chair that was going 
to pieces, while his Cabinet, in the shape of rats, were 
leaving the fallen house, all but one, Yan Buren, on 
whose tail the general had put his foot. John Tyler 
was thrown over by his own party. A conspiracy was 



CJBSARISM. 27 

formed to defeat Lincoln for a second term ; and the 
story of Johnson the world knows by heart. Washington 
had his Arnold ; Jefferson, his Burr ; Lincoln, his John- 
son ; and Grant must not expect to escape. 

OFFICIAL LIFE. 

It would be impossible for the President to please his ma- 
hffners. He can't talk, it is said. Would these men like 
him any better if he was as eloquent as Clay, or as gar- 
rulous as Davis ? They don't like what he has said ; 
would they like more ? At one time, complaint was made 
that Grant did not make a show ; that in dress and ap- 
pearance he had not style enough for the First Magis- 
trate of the country. Would these people like Grant 
any better if he should put on the air and style of Wash- 
ington : drive to the capitol with outriders, wear a 
court dress, powder his hair, and guard the White House, 
with the etiquette of European courts ? During the 
Seven Years' War, Martha Washington came to the army 
to pass the winter. Washington sent a military escort 
for her, and she came into camp with her postilions in 
scarlet and gold, escorted by a troop of horse. Should 
Mrs. Grant put on that style at Washington would it 
suit, would it satisfy the murmurers ? Poor Lincoln, to get 
a breath of fresh air, drove out at night to the Soldiers' 
Home to sleep. A troop of horse attended him, that 
the rebels might not spirit him away. The Copper- 
heads charged him with imperialism, and with putting on 
airs, and riding with an escort, like a European despot. 



28 C.ESARTS.V. 

GRANT AND HIS RELATIONS. 

While General Grant was lighting the battles of his 
country, Lincoln, as a thank-ofiering, without the solici- 
tation of Grant, presented his father wdth a commission. 
Of course the first thing Grant ought to have done, when 
he was sworn into office, was to have taken the commis- 
sion awa}^, and turned his old father out of employment. 
Then the country would have rung with the hard heart- 
edness and cold-bloodedness of the President. If the 
calumnies were true, as his enemies put it, it would have 
been perfectly right for the President to have put his re- 
lations in office. They are American citizens, and are 
not to be disfranchised because a relative happens to be 
in power. They have a right to share the altered for- 
tunes of the President. On this charge the people 
passed at the last election, and approved of the conduct 
of the President, whatever that was. All Presidents 
have done this, more or less. Washington did not put 
his relations in office, for he had none, and if he had they 
were Tories. John Adams appointed his relations to 
office, and when Jefferson removed them, Mrs. Adams 
wrote a severe letter, dated May 20, 1804, censuring 
Jefferson for his unkindness. John Quincy Adams, a boy 
of twelve years of age, was appointed private secretarj^ 
to his father, that he might accompany him to France 
for an education. Jackson put his adopted son into 
office. Prince John was employed by his father, and 
was as well known as the Prince of AYales. Tyler's sons 
had public employ. Woodbury, when appointed Judge, 
turned out a life-long clerk to put in his son-in-law. 



CyESAEISM. 29 

Seward placed his children and relations in the State 
Department, and members of Congress have from the 
beginning sought positions of emolument and trust for 
their relatives and friends, at home and abroad. 

GENERAL GRANT AND HIS PRESENTS. 

From the earliest civilization, nations have rewarded 
conquerors. The imperial palace, in which the Prince of 
Wales resides, was a present to Marlborough for his great 
victories. The paintings celebrating his battles, cover 
the house from the grand hall-way to the dome. One of the 
finest private residences in London, is the Apsley House 
at the entrance of Hyde Park, — a present from the 
nation to the Duke of Wellington. Neither Marlborough 
nor Wellington became traitors to their country because 
of these gifts. The American government can make no 
presents to men who have fought its battles and saved 
the integrity of its flag, but the people can if they 
choose, and they have always done so. Washington was 
offered a princely gift ; but he declined it because he 
was rich, and the nation poor. His estate was valued 
at over half a million. McClellan was offered a fine 
house handsomely furnished, which he did not decline. 
Jefferson, in his embarrassments, received with gratitude 
contributions sent to hun from different parts of the 
country. He gratefully recognizes the receipt of eight 
thousand five hundred dollars, from the citizens of New 
York through Philip Hone, the maj^or. Fillmore and 
Pierce, after their election, received presents from their 
friends, and pointed to these gifts with pride. Webster, 
when he was taken from his law-ofl&ce in Boston and 



30 CjEsarism. 

sent to Congress, received the promise of pecuniary aid, 
and drew on his friends for funds during the whole of 
his long legislative career. He owned at the time of his 
death the finest pair of carriage horses in the State, the 
gift of admiring friends. Henry Clay was overwhelmed 
with tears when he received a draft from Boston to pay 
a heavy note that he could not meet. Farragut, though 
he was rich in prize money, received a gift of forty thou- 
sand dollars from the same liberal hands that had already 
provided a home for General Grant. 

THE BUKDEX OF OFFICE. 

The patronage of the President is the most perplexing 
and burdensome of all his duties. It is not an easy thing 
to appoint a hundred thousand to office, have them all of 
the right stamp, and look after them after they are ap- 
pointed. To know these men personally is simply an 
impossibility. Men must be appointed on the recommen- 
dation of others. The fiercest assaults on President 
Grant's nominations, have been made by men who rec- 
ommended candidates, and found they could not use them 
after they were appointed. Shrewd business men have 
their funds stolen out of their own safes. Banks are 
robbed by their own clerks under the eye of a detective. 
Bank officials, with ten and twenty years of honor upon 
them, steal the entire capital. Take a thousand lawyers, 
a thousand doctors, a thousand merchants, a thousand 
ministers, a thousand policemen, or a thousand men of 
any class, and there will be among them an average 
number not to be trusted. Office-holders are not alto- 
gether saints, nor are they free from the common infirm- 



C^SARISM. 31 

ity. But to hold the President responsible for an occa- 
sional defalcation, or the conduct of a dishonest appointee, 
would be as atrocious as it would be to hold Washing;ton 
responsible for the treachery of Arnold, because he bore 
his commission; Jefferson, for the treason of Burr, be- 
cause he was at one time a part of his government ; Jack- 
son, for nullification ; Buchanan, for the office-holders that 
fired on Sumter j or Lincoln, for the conduct of Johnson. 
No Presid-ent has survived the popularity of his first 
appointment. Washington knew this when patronage 
passed out of his hands. It carried Adams under ; and 
Jefierson cried out: "I am tired of office. It brinies 
me nothing but unceasing drudgery and daily loss of 
friends." President Polk told me that the patronage of 
the government was more burdensome to him than all 
the other duties of his office. He not only maddened 
those he did not appoint, but those he did. He could 
give no satisfaction. For every appointment there were 
a hundred applicants. Not only were ninety-nine disaf- 
fected, but the hundredth was not pleased. No man had 
the office that he was entitled to. Appoint a man to a 
clerkship, and he would be offended that he was not at 
the head of a Bureau. Make a man a marshal, and he 
would be mad that he was not circuit judge. Give a man 
a consulship, and he would demand the reason why he was 
not made a full minister. The Secretary of the Navy had 
an appointment in his gift. It was on the coast of Maine, 
seventy miles out at sea, a lighthouse on a barren rock, to 
appoint a man to which would seem to doom him to ban- 
ishment. The salary was three hundred dollars a year. 
Yet for that appointment there were seven hundred 



32 c^ SARI mi. 

applications ; and when the position was filled, there were 
six hundred and ninety-nine sullen people, who would 
not have voted for the Secretary for hog reeve. Not- 
withstanding the great increase of patronage made neces- 
sary by the war, the economy, honesty, integrity, and 
vigor with which the duties are performed, have never 
been exceeded under any administration. 

don't attend to nis work. 

Modern sensation journalism would shut up the Pres- 
ident like the Grand Llama, and not allow him to go out 
without the consent of his political foes. An exact record 
of the number of days the President has spent away from 
the capital, can be found in some of the prints ; as if he 
were a clerk in some great establishment, and bound to 
give an account of his time to his masters. It was the 
boast of the old Democracy that the President was a 
simple citizen clothed with power, to whom any man can 
speak, and who might do anything that became a man. 
Modern Democracy is made of different stuff. It is a new 
wrinkle to try to confine the President to the capital dur- 
ing the recess of Congress. In the time of the fathers, 
the President took his vacation with the President of the 
Senate and the Speaker of the House. When Congress 
adjourned, the President hastened away with the mem- 
bers. Washington went home and cultivated his broad 
acres. John Adams spent the recess on his farm at 
Quincy. Jefferson was impatient at anything that pro- 
longed the session. Eminent men from abroad who 
came to visit him, found him on horseback in his fields at 
Monticello superintending his servants. Jackson went 



CjESARIsm. 33 

to the Kip Eaps, and spent his vacation in the only farm- 
house on the Island. No man could visit him without 
his consent. Here in his shirt sleeves, dressed in a plan- 
tation suit, smoking a cob-pipe, with his chair tipped 
back, he gave audiences to foreign Ministers. All this 
was very Democratic and very nice. All the Presidents 
took a recess with Congress. 

The oath of office assigns to General Grant certain duties. 
He can perform them when and where he pleases : at 
Mount Desert, in Maine, at Long Branch on the Atlantic, 
or on the Pacific Coast. General Grant has spent more 
time in Washington during the recess of Congress, than 
any President except Lincoln. And Lincoln was kept at 
the capital by the exigencies of the war. Though a 
President, General Grant is an American citizen. He is 
not fond of ovations, that had so much fascination for for- 
mer Presidents. He selects his own pastimes, and enjoys 
them as he will. 

THE PRESIDENT AT HOME. 

The President is a thoroughly domestic man. His quiet, 
unostentatious style of life is in harmony with the genius 
of the great country over which he rules. At Washington, 
all the time not required for public service is spent in the 
bosom of his family. After office hours, the President can 
be found in his elegant parlors surrounded by his house- 
hold. Mrs. Grant knows — what a great many wives do 
not know, but would be glad to know — where her hus- 
band spends his evenings. At Long Branch, the Presi- 
dential cottage, unpretentious but attractive, is two miles 
away from the hotels. He is away from the noise, tur- 



34 C^SARISM. 

moil, and confusion of the public. Any one who wishes to 
make the President a social call will find him at home 
any time after the drive is over. No letters of introduc- 
tion are ileeded, for the President is accessible to every 
one. All who call will find him a quiet, genial, intelli- 
gent, unostentatious gentleman ; a man of very decided 
opinions on matters and things in general, and quite able 
to express them when he desires so to do. His personal 
recreations and pleasures are of his ow^n type, and he 
knows how to enjoy them. He worships in the Metho- 
dist Church, and though not a communicant, he is an 
official member of the Church. He usually drives a pau' 
of spanking bays in a high English carriage, known as 
a dog-cart. He takes his seat in church without parade, 
listens with sharp attention, keeping his keen eyes on the 
preacher, seldom changing his position through the ser- 
vice. The last thing he does as he turns his carriage up 
to the curbstone, is to fling away the stump of a cigar. 
He relights the fragrant weed as soon as he mounts the 
box. 

And this quiet, unostentatious, domestic gentleman — 
who minds his own business and interferes with no one, 
accessible to every one who is a gentleman, happy in his 
home, and domestic in his instincts, who is acknowledged 
abroad to be the ablest ruler of his time, and with his 
ability blending the simplicity of Cincinnatus, — he, if 
we can believe certain pure and disinterested patriots, — is 
the terrible Ciesar of the age, and must be constantly 
watched lest he found a despotism on the corner-stone 
laid by Washington. 

The American nation is one of the strongest on the 



CjEsarism. 35 

earth, and promises to be the oldest. No war of such a 
magnitude was ever followed by so speedy a peace. The 
worst reconstructed portion of our land is in a better 
condition than was our whole country at the close of 
the Revolutionary War, or the War of 1812. Our gi- 
gantic debt has been managed with marvelous skill. 
Our credit is high the world over. All the Avorld knows 
that each dollar of our debt is as sacred as the drops of 
blood shed to maintain the honor of our flag. Finan- 
ciers who came early to our help have reaped a golden 
harvest. Our institutions are honored over all the earth. 
Our inventions are changing the face of the Old World. 
Our language is being sjDoken in all parts of the globe, 
and is destined to be the universal language. Schools 
are opened in Egypt, Arabia, on the sands of Africa, 
on the mountains of the east, and in the islands of the 
sea, to teach it. Our flag, which in 1861 was insulted 
and jeered at, is npw saluted everywhere, and is the best 
protection for our sons and daughters abroad. '-' Where 
did you get your officers," said a member of Parliament 
to me at a Liberal banquet at Bristol. " Get them ! We 
got them where we got our soldiers, — we made them. 
We took our principal general from a tan-yard, and we 
have more in soak, if any one wants anything of us ; 
for men who malign us over the sea, print their libels on 
presses made in New York." For such mighty results that 
make us, as a nation, what we are, no individual has done 
more than the silent gentleman at the White House. 

The great party that elected General Grant to the 
Presidency is still the party that controls the nation. It 
can, if it will renominate General Grant for a Third 



C^SARISM. 

Should it do so, it will make to all the world the 



36 

Term 

proclamation which the king of Persia ordered his prime 
minister to utter in regard to the exalted Mordecai : 
'•' Thus shall it be done to the man whom the dcodIc de- 
light to honor." 

LIBKWKY UH CONUKbbb 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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